The Portland daily press., 1887-03-28
THROUGH TEmPEsrs.
The Yacht coronet Arrives First at
Queenstown.
The Passage Made In "a Days, 10
Hours, 3 Minutes and 4 Seconds.
A Graphic description Of the Tenn
pestuous Voyage.
No News from the Rival Yacht
pauntiess.

less. The C0f0net passed the winning peint
at u Al O'Clock, under full press Of canvass,
the wind at that hour being WNW and fresh,
In passing the egiyen line at Roche's Point
the victorious yacht fred five guns ana the
time was at once taken by secretary and
members of tn Royal Cork Yacht Club who
had been on thu lookout for her arrival. The
club then hoisted signal announcing the
Coronet's arrival, the various stations
answering the u ant. The wind was blow
ing hard and Z s-onet entered Corr ha.s
Dor in spanking style. with all sails set and
hugging the western shore. The apparent
time occupied in the passage Is Il days, %
hours, "a minutes, 46 seconds, and the actual
time computed in Greenwich basis is IA days
10 hours, minutes, IA seconds. The whole
longest days run is 291 miles, made yester-
day, and the shortest 3s.s miles, made Tues
day, March 22d. The average was from $50
to $50 miles. The weather was uncommonly
tempestuous even for this season of the
year. No less than seven heavy gales con-
trived to keep the sea in foment for 10 or II
days of the trip, and for two days the
weather was so severe as to make the ques-
tion of the yacht living through them some-
what doubtful. She behaved splendidly,
however, in all sorts Of weather, and proved
herself one of the staunchest, if not one of
the fastest vessels of her type afioat. No ac-
cidents happened to any Of the sailors de-
spite the great risks they were compelled to
run at times, with the exception Of three
torn sails, and little broken tackle every
thing on board the boat was in as good shape
when the anchor was dropped off Queens
town as when it was raised off Tompkins-
vile, l.. L.
1t is thought that much quicker passage
might have been made had Capt. Crosby car
ried more sails. On several occasions when
the wind was light, but the sky threatening
he was very cautious and his judgment was
was much of the time below 90 and seldom
above 30 normal height in the latitude
trayersed. The. course made was a little
more northerly than was thought safe. but
fortunately no icebergs or fields of ice were
encountered. The number Of persons on
board the Coronet was 20, including is
sailors. five officers, steward, cook, mess boy,
and five guests. The officers were: Captain,
c. P. Crosby; navigator, 7. B. c. Anderson:
mates, W. A: Whittier and Otto Peterson;
vantage gained by the Ceronet at the start
increased the confidence of those on board in
both boat and shippers. 1t was the first
time Capt. Crosby had ever participated in
yacht race of any sort. He freely admitted
that he feared Capt Samuels of the Daunt-
less, with his past experience, would succeed
in crossing the starting line somewhat ahead.
How needless these apprehensions were is
already known, 1t is not too much to say
that in hismaneuyering he displayed more
judgment and tact than Is usually seen in races
near New York. After taking the anchor on
N a Of no
start, he beat about the bay off Owls Head
surveying the water and verifying the posi-
tion Of buoys II and 10 between which she
must pass, after the proper signal had been
made from the judges tug. When the pre-
making reach UP the bay with her head to-
ward the batter<ss Crosby held the wheel
and by his side Was Capt. Anderson, watch
in hand, counting the seconds. Seven
minutes from the time Of the first signal
Crosby ordered the helm hard-a-lce to bring
the boats head around. She was under
fifty seconds in stays, and then fairly
flew before the strong nOrtherly wind.
As it had been arranged that the starting
signal would be given ten minutes after the
preparatory signal it seemed probable that
the CoroRet would reach the line fully a
minute before the time for the second signal.
when it would be necessary to go about
again, thus causing considerable loss of time.
Crosby was equal 10 the emergency, howev-
er. When he realized what was imminent
he spilled the wind out of the sails by
trimming the fiat aft bringing the big
schooner almost TO a standstill. When the
signal was finally given he paid out the
sheets fore. and aft ran up the square sail,
forestry sail, and topsails, and in so seconds
had the Coroner across the line. The
Dauntless, it will be remembered, was off
GOwanus nearly mile away with her stern
towards the judges boat Every possible
stitch OF canvass was spread on the C0r0net
as she sped through the narrows at the rate
OF 13 miles an hour, surrounded by tugs,
steamers and steam yachts. Once or twice
when under the lee of the highland 1t
seemed as though her opponent was gaining
her lost ground rapidly, but when the wind
filled her sails again she left the Dauntless
further astern than at the start. The tor
tous swash channel having been followed to
the ocean Sandy Hook light house bore west
by south, and the open sea portion Of the
trip began The course laid was east by south.
The sky was clear, and the breeze, which
had veered around to the northwest, was
freshened. When the excursion boat Bay
Ridge, which was the only one of the fleet Of
steamers to accompany the racing yachts as
far as Sandy Hook lightship, turned back,
at about $40 o'clock p. m, the relative posi-
tiOns OF the schooners was nearly the same
as when they passed through the Narrows,
and they were steering the same course. The
wind now was greatly increased and heavy
sea running abeam. The balloon and sky
sails and topsails on both boats were taken
in at about the same moment Then the
Dauntless dropped astern rapidly, and at
t,clSS O'Clock she o., was hull down, six
to SSE, and just before darkness set in only
her topmasts were visible. The first Sunday
was marked, as were seven of the ten sue
ceeding days, by gale which came from
the northeast soon after midnight. Although
fairly moderate it was accompanied :by
M Ia a ~ lnh
heavily. The waves frequently broke over
the bows but she rode IL ont well under
close-reefed forean main sails and jib and
averaged ten miles an hour on the course
qualities of the Coronet tried. She proved
herself bouyant as a cork, and recovering
quickly from the added weight caused by
the shipping of one heavy cargo of water on
her decks she would meet and mount the
next wave easily and gracefully as swan.
The only damage sustained was the parting
of the iron twin buckle of the starboard
bobstay. This was quickly replaced with
double block tackle. To the five fresh-wa-
ter sailors who had taken passage IN the sa-
loon the movements of the yacht seemed
somewhat erratic, and all but one man, who
had travelled over deep water enough Ito en-
title him to be called son Of Neptune
quickly succumbed to sea sickness. Early
in the afternoon the gale abated and was
succeeded by q light puffy breeze from the
The sea continued high and prevented the
carrying of fair spread of canvas. owing
to the heavy strain IL would entail on the
masts in quick lurches. Navigator Ander-
sons observations showed that in % hours
80 minutes and 81 seconds, which had ac-
tually elapsed between the time of start and
Sunday noon, the COronet had sailed 24S
nautical miles. The succeeding day was a
busy one for the sailors. Both watches were
on deck during a part Of the "A hours. The
wind was so light, putting and eapricious
that it required almost continual changing of
sails and hauling of sheets. The sea con-
tinued turbulent, and the yacht at times
rolled so violently as to threaten the stability
of the spars. The pressure Of the wind
against the mainsail was not sufficient to
probable, early in the morning, that the
swaying of the gaff would carry away the
masthead, the mainsail was replaced by a
storm trysail. 1t was now that the immense
souaresail did good service, when it was
spread to counterbalance the deficiency OF
the canvas astern; IL carried the yacht
along much faster, lightened her much
by the head and prevented her
taking such quantities Of water on
deck as when under the mainsail
Towards sunset the water became smooth
er, and all of the sails were again set. A
calm followed, and at midnight there was
NOT suficient air astir TO fiutter the pennant
The distance travelled from noon Monday to
noon of Tuesday was 2443 miles nearly due
east. Early Tuesday morning the wind rose
from the northeast, and by daylight 1t blew a
gale. The canvas was reduced to double.
r1eesed mainsails. foresail with bonnet out
and reefed forestaysail. The boat was
- ~ the rate of 10 knots with